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Wednesday, December 31, 2008

TOP 10 ROMERO STORIES OF 2008

To be sure, 2008 was not an Oscar Romero year. The Vatican was mum on the progress of the beatification cause, and efforts to investigate his unsolved assassination seem to have lost steam after some movement the previous year. Nevertheless, the memory of Archbishop Romero persisted, and:

1. Pope Benedict cited Archbishop Romero when he received the Salvadoran bishops in their ad limina visit in February. In his fourth or fifth public remarks relating to Romero, Benedict said Romero figured among the "pastors filled with love" who preach the gospel with "fervor."

2. Wearing resplandescent, ermine-trimmed white robes, the Pontiff approached Romero again in April, when he paid tribute to a chapel honoring XX Century martyrs including Romero. The pope lit a candle at the altar where Romero's relics are kept. "The option in favor of the smallest and most poor, which mark the life of the Christian community, sometimes give rise to violent loathing," he said.

3. Pope Benedict XVI named Monsignor José Luis Escobar Alas as the new Archbishop of San Salvador. The new successor to Archbishop Romero will be instrumental in guiding Archbishop Romero's canonization cause.

4. In July, the Pope named a new prefect for the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, the Church institution that recognizes new saints and is studying Archbishop Romero's sainthood cause. The new prefect, Archbishop Angelo Amato, was the co-signer of the 2007 Notificatio against Jon Sobrino.

5. In August, the Salvadoran presidential candidate Mauricio Funes took part in celebrations of Archbishop Romero's birthday in Romero's home town: a sign of things to come. If Mr. Funes is elected (he has led in every poll), he would likely bring large state recognition to Archbishop Romero's cause in El Salvador for the first time.

6. Before retiring as Prefect for the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, Portuguese Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins said that Archbishop Romero's canonization cause was at a standstill while the Church analyzed the question of whether he was killed for political reasons or hatred of the faith (which is required in order to qualify a person as a martyr-saint).

7. Influential Salvadoran bishop Gregorio Rosa Chávez said in an interview that Archbishop Romero's case is "ripe for sentencing." In contrast to other voices in the Church (see #6 above), Bishop Rosa said the great questions attending the beatification cause have already been answered.

8. Latin American church giant, Colombian Cardinal Alfonso López Trujillo, passed away this year. Through a career in CELAM (the Latin America Bishops' Conference), he became a vocal opponent of Liberation Theology and was believed to have interposed legal objections to Archbishop Romero's beatification cause that slowed down the Vatican's handling of the case.

9. In March, the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano ran an extensive retrospective about Archbishop Romero, which included a clarification of the Archbishop's relationship with several popes, which sought to set straight rumors of tense relations with Rome. The report was seen as evidence of the church hierarchy's growing embrace.

10. Finally, tributes and commemorations of Archbishop Romero continued to mount, including speeches by Sr. Dianna Ortiz and Bishop Medardo Gomez, and an inclusion in a new, award-winning book about Latin American saints.

Monday, May 12, 2008

ÓSCAR ROMERO and ST. PAUL

In anticipation of the Pauline Year jubilee (from June 28, 2008 to June 29, 2009) to mark the bimillennium celebrations of the birth of the Apostle Paul, Pope Benedict has authorized a special plenary indulgence to those participating in Pauline commemorations. Because of St. Paul's unparalleled status as as Christian writer and spiritual guide, it seems almost pointless to say that Archbishop Romero was influenced by Paul. It is clear that Romero was a great admirer and follower of St. Paul. More than any other Christian writer, St. Paul was the authority that Romero most often cited to confirm his message of the Gospel. Romero called St. Paul "the model of the messengers of the Church" and "a marvelous witness to the Resurrection." Beyond theology and dogma, in St. Paul, Romero found the human story that illuminated Romero's own struggle, and that of his people.

There was -- let us say it -- a correspondence between the Man of Tarsus and the Archbishop of San Salvador. By many interpretations, both men underwent a profound "conversion" that put them on a collision course with earthly power, and on a divine mission to reveal prophetic truth to the followers of Christ. In his modest way, Romero sometimes cast aside the comparisons. "Paul was a bishop like the one that is speaking to you now," Romero preached in an October 1977 sermon pointing to the timeless authority of the Church through its bishops: "naturally, with the enormous difference between his saintliness and my mediocrity." But, at other times, Romero admitted that Paul's greatest strength came from his weakness, as when he called Paul "the valiant Christian who experiences, as a man, human weakness, but who feels within the strength of the faith, the hope that God gives those who trust in Him." (Dec. 1977). Of course, we see that same strength in Romero and, at times, Romero took refuge in the shadow of St. Paul, likening his trips to Rome to bring an accounting to the Pope, the successor of Peter, to St. Paul's trips to Rome to answer to St. Peter himself. Thus, just as St. Paul became the Apostle to the Gentiles, destined to bring the Gospel of Christ to a special audience, so Romero became the prophet of the social doctrine, bringing the Gospel to a special arena of the Church. Nor was it lost on Romero that he was an apostle to formerly pagan lands: "You too, indians of America, are called to participate in the inheritance of Christ." (Jan. 1980.)

Above all, St. Paul gave Romero an object lesson in conversion and reconciliation -- the lesson he was trying to impart upon a country spiraling downward toward civil war. "He who is today a criminal can be tomorrow an apostle." (September 1979.) Romero also realized that the criminal, the persecutor, can be effective as an apostle in ways that only a rehabilitated sinner can be: "St. Paul is a marvelous witness of the Resurrection because, if there ever was aman who would not have wanted to believe in Jesus or the resurrection, it was Saul the persecutor." (Feb. 1980.) This was the secret to reconciliation, because in Romero's Pauline world, "There is room for everyone -- even for the persecutors who, like Saul, are converted to being true apostles of the Gospel." (July 1977.) This Pauline apostleship was for Romero, founded in community, in harmony, and therefore in justice. Christian fellowship required rich and poor to treat each other alike, seeing beyond the economic castes of this world to the ranks of a celestial country beyond this earth (July 1979.) This is ultimately the strength of St. Paul, who can persevere in jail as well as in freedom, because he places his trust and his faith in a greater ground of being, and he can stare down sickness and suffering and death with serenity and courage. (Oct. 1978.)

At Fr. Alfonso Navarro's funeral, Romero invoked the words of St. Paul, "inviting us to be brave, not to be cowards, to live the novelty of the Christian who has seen amongst the evils of the earth, the beauty of God's truth, which it is very dangerous to announce and to proclaim, and from that truth to denounce the injustices, the upheavals, the abuses, which are so dangerous, and which, if he had not spoken, Alfonso Navarro would still be alive. But he is the testimony of what he took from the Gospel and announced: 'Only the truth will set you free'." (May 1979.)

Monday, January 07, 2008

TOP ROMERO STORIES OF 2007

As a tribute to Archbishop Romero's prediction that, "If they kill me, I shall arise in the Salvadoran people," here is a recap Romero's presence in El Salvador and elsewhere, during the recently concluded year.

1. Pope Benedict tells the press, "That Romero as a person merits beatification, I have no doubt." Although the statement was later revised and finessed by the Vatican to ensure due deference to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, Benedict's unedited, off-the-cuff statement reveals that the Church, at its highest echelons, sees Romero much like the rest of the Christian faithful regard him. The Pope also said, that Romero "was certainly a great witness to the faith. He was a man of great Christian virtue, who was committed to peace and against the dictatorship." The significance of the final point has not been commented on, but the Pontiff here acknowledges that the Salvadoran government at the time was a "dictatorship," and that Romero's opposition to it was consistent with "great Christian virtue." More: click here.

2. OAS Controversy: Tutela Legal puts the Salvadoran government to task over El Salvador's lack of compliance with recommendations by the human rights tribunal of the Organization of American States calling for investigation and reparations for Archbishop Romero's assassination. In the October hearing on the matter, the parties revealed that the government had been holding secret negotiations with the Archdiocese of San Salvador over the matter. This revelation lead to a great outcry. Archbishop Sáenz placated the controversy by assuring broad consultations with civil society and not some secret deal. He quietly fired his lawyer, who was not so quiet in his departure. The fallout from the unresolved assassination also pulled the plug on attempts to bestow legislative honors on the man believed to have ordered the murder, with former U.S. Ambassador Robert White urging Salvadorans to demand accountability from the ruling party, founded by the presumed mastermind of the crime. More: click here.

3. Tony Saca and Hugo Chávez agree on one thing -- that Romero deserves to be recognized. The Salvadoran government announced that it would lobby the Vatican for the beatification of Archbishop Romero. Although the move was criticized as a cynical ploy to avoid having to comply with OAS recommendations to investigate and prosecute the case (see story No. 1), it was the first time the Salvadoran state had made a public statement to acknowledge the special place in its history Archbishop Romero holds. It was also, as far as we could tell, the first time ANY government would intervene formally in a canonization case. Not to be outdone, the government of Venezuela hosted a theological conference and opened a website dedicated to Romero. A skeptic there might question why the Chávez regime would care about the Salvadoran cleric, when it has such lousy relations with El Salvador and with the Catholic Church. Or, perhaps there is the intented rub. More: click here and here.

4. Pope Benedict recalls Archbishop Romero during his March 25 "Angelus" prayer. The second time Benedict XVI evoked Archbishop Romero last year was the day after the anniversary of Romero's death. The date -- March 24 -- has been widely adopted by the Church for its commemoration of its "Missionary Martyrs," an off-the-liturgical-calendar-holiday that has spread from Europe to Asia, and many places where it has been taken up with Evangelical zeal. This is literally true, as in modern times, as in the early days of Christianity, "martyrs are the seeds of the Church." The Pope's invocation of Archbishop Romero in St. Peter's Square was the not the first time a pope would cite Archbishop Romero in his official remarks to pilgrims at the Vatican. Pope John Paul did so in 1980, 1981, 1982, and 1996. Pope Benedict's reference was correctly interpreted as a signal that the Vatican continues to hold Romero in very high regard. More: click here.

5. Óscar Romero, ¡presente! -- at the Latin American Bishops' Conference in Aparecida. Although the bickering Salvadoran bishops did not elect Archbishop Romero to attend the CELAM conference in 1979, Archbishop Romero's presence has been felt at every gathering of the continent's bishops since Puebla. At the May meeting in Brazil, Romero was cited by none other than his successor, the retiring Archbishop Sáenz. Other bishops also brought up Romero, and even took up a furtive bid to have Romero mentioned in the final document. Msgr. Jesús Delgado and other members of the Salvadoran delegation also kept Romero's name in the air in the hallways of Aparecida. Although there was no dramatic acclamation, the conference that began with the press reporting the Pope's belief that Romero "merits beatification" (see story No. 1), appeared to ratify much of Romero's pastoral approach, in light of the social doctrine of the Church and its "preferential option for the poor." More: click here and here.

6. British Catholics launch the Archbishop Romero Trust. Dedicated by the Catholics, Cardinal Cormac Murphy O'Connor, Cardinal Keith O'Brien, Archbishop Diarmuid Martin, and Anglican Archbishops Rowan Williams and John Sentamu, the Trust was established "to promote knowledge and awareness of the life and work of Archbishop Romero, to commemorate the anniversary of his death annually, and to provide support to human rights and justice initiatives in Latin America." In March, London became the second major European capital where Romero's martyrdom will be formally commemorated with an annual mass (it is already commemorated in Rome by Catholic charities activists like the Londoners involved in the Trust). The Trust also produced an audio report that was aired on Vatican Radio. More: click here and here.

7. High ranking Church officials have continued to praise Archbishop Romero's saintly qualities. In February, this blog named "Doce Cardenales Simpatizantes" -- "Twelve Sympathetic Cardinals," who had endorsed Archbishop Romero's canonization cause or recognized his martyrdom. The list was based on published materials and may not include ALL the cardinals with such beliefs but, nonetheless, the group would represent a significant group in the College of Cardinals. Leading clerics continued to join the litany of the sainthood supporters. Archbishop Paolo Romeo of Palermo stated that "`hatred of the faith' (the legal requirement for martyrdom) was obvious" in Romero's beatification cause. Even across denominational divides, the Archbishop of York John Sentamu quoted Romero in his homilies and took to wearing a Salvadoran cross (see also story No. 6). More: click here and here.

8. Archbishop Romero's name continued to be synonymous with heroic acts of conscience in awards set up in his name. Shanti Sellz and Daniel Strauss and the immigration activist group No More Deaths took the prestigious Oscar Romero Award for Human Rights awarded by the Houston-based Rothko Chapel, a church that advocates for human rights. Previous recipients include Sister Diana Ortiz, the American nun who was tortured in Guatemala. At Boston College in Massachussets, Genoveva Abreu was named as the Oscar Romero Scholarship recipient. For several years running, BC has been awarding the Romero Scholarship to students who demonstrate altruistic merit by their community service or interest in human rights. At long last, an "Oscar" we can all strive to win? More: click here and here.

9. British expert to preserve Romero vestments. From now on, the vestments that Archbishop Romero was wearing on March 24, 1980, when an assassin's bullet cut him down at the altar, will no longer hang in a common clotheshanger in a glass case. Instead, the relics will be displayed in a way that exhibits the precious garments to the faithful AND preserves their integrity for generations to come. Jan Graffius, a preservation expert from Stonyhurst College in England, came down to San Salvador as part of the outreach of the newly formed Romero Trust (see also story No. 6). "Handling and examining these vestments was an emotional experience and a great responsibility," said Ms. Graffius. "If, as is expected, Monseñor Romero is beatified in the near future, the hospital will become an even more important centre of pilgrimage than it is at present." More: click here.

10. New 'martyrology' of Salvadoran Church. The Salvadoran Church published a new softcover volume (in Spanish) entitled "Testigos de la Fe en El Salvador" ("Witnesses of the Faith in El Salvador"), featuring the stories of ten priests killed in El Salvador and Archbishop Romero. The book, published extra-officially by a group of priests and distributed through all the parishes, is in part a response to John Paul II's Jubilee call to memorialize local martyrs, whether or not they have been recognized by officialdom. John Paul himself led a ceremony in the Colosseum in Rome (site of ancient persecutions) in the year 2000 in which Archbishop Romero was memorialized, together with all the "witnesses of the faith" of the 20th century. More: click here.